Leaderboard

My band were recently (Saturday) honored to play at the LGGF 25th anniversary ball in Birmingham. For 25 years the LGGF has been fundraising for Marie Curie and Cancer Research and this night was a very special milestone for them and they celebrated in serious style. Such a great night for us and everyone in attendance!

Just to echo @AndyTravis's comments above... Saturday was great: afternoon gigs might be the way forward. Fiasco Jam were phenomenal - great songs, great arrangements and everyone locked in. As I've already said to him, Andy might be my favourite bassist: despite his immense technical and sonic range, he always serves the song and never puts a foot wrong. We were a bit rusty in comparison but acquitted ourselves acceptably. Very grateful to FJ for taking us along!

I do love a sitting gig at my age. Lovely little jazz club in SW France near where we used to live. Went down great. Percussionist couldn't make tonights gig but still worked well. Well paid, but I would have done tonights and last nights shows for nothing as the sax/keys player is gravely ill and it was simply an honour to have been asked to provide the low end on what may well be one of his last gigs.

Since Covid I've averaged 80/90 gigs a year, playing in two/three main bands plus various side projects and dep gigs. As others have mentioned, there's been a lot of venue closure and gig cancellation this year and I'm currently standing at 78 for 2024. Gigging is what I do. It's my main hobby, activity and interest. It's also a shared passion with my wonderful wife, @Silvia Bluejay I entirely agree about preferring quality gigs to mere quantity, but that reminds me of something I first heard when I joined an advertising agency in the mid-70s: "We know that half the money we spend on advertising is wasted. We just don't know which half." If I knew in advance which gigs were going to be a triumph and which a waste of time & energy then I'd be a very happy bunny. Sadly, my crystal ball is no better than anyone else's. In order to play a dozen truly wonderful, memorable gigs each year, I accept that I'll also have to play 70 dull or ropey gigs. I'd like to improve those odds, but for the moment I'll take what I can get.

Posting to Northern Ireland would be exactly the same as posting to England, Scotland or Wales. I don't see the issue from the seller's perspective.

ok I really might try and leave it alone for a week

Well, very first impressions of the CQ18T are that it's decently compact and should mean one fewer bag to take to take to gigs! That's a good start...😄

Fwoarrr! Look at the join on that! Perhaps I've been unlucky, but I've never owned a Fender Jazz with all the parts fitting quite so exactly, there always seems to be a bit of 'near enough, that'll do' bodge. This Lakland seems precise: Pickup holes, pickguard exactly meeting the neck and control plate, neck pocket, nut, frets, etc. Everything seems precise, one bit individually doesn't make much difference but marginal gains add up.

https://warmaudio.com/pedal76 Has anyone seen this yet? WA gear seems pretty good to me (previously had the phaser, have the passive DI) I am not in the market for a comp since I love my Spectracomp but thought this may be of interest to those of a Cali76 persuasion. Cheers

Here’s an exclusive look at the brief for these new Fenders:

To be fair, I think they're fairly upfront with their 10" cabs having a vintage vibe to them, I think that was part of their original design goal. I've only ever played through a BF once, and this was a while ago, but from what I remember, I loved the sound, I've just never been able to justify the cost. For the price of one Big Twin or similar, I'd have spent more than double what I've paid for my current cabs (Ampeg and Ashdown 8x10's)

I rejigged my secondary/‘fly-board’ after receiving my Schutone replacements for overdrive and chorus: All on a PT Nano and powered by a Cioks Sol. Just need to get a couple of tall pedal toppers for the Schutone pedals now, ones that fit momentary switches (the Mooer toppers don’t). Si

An update if someone is interested: Lessons are once a week for about 20 minutes. I worked through a first year's beginner book in about a month, which was great for learning the basics (posture, first and half position, ...) and relearning the bass clef. I've been working on how high the moon for the last week or so (melody, arpeggios in different inversions etc). I'm well aware I'm just scratching the surface, but so far I'm very pleased. There's something about the physicality of playing an actual acoustic instrument. So far so good!

This! That for me is what sets Lakland apart from the equivalent Fender models.

Again . Thanks to all for your input. Dan's reassurance that my compatibility worry is unfounded. Bill, I currently have my 2 on a small stand to elevate them....! Thanks. I also think it looks better..... Bolo, I have 2 10's now so adding another 2x10 would give me 4, and I don't want 4. That would probably blow my windows out if I let it... But thanks anyway. Chris. My thinking is to have exactly what you are endorsing. Oh and as an aside. Dan.... Are you from Wisconsin...? Regards. Rob

😎

Do 3 cabs sound better than 2? Well you are moving more air, so if that air sounds good, more will probably sound better. In my case, I used to run 1, 2 and 3 Bergantino AE112's, depending on the band and venue. 2 cabs sounded great, but 3 sounded better and was my favourite config.

I'm afraid that I take a very different view. I've had loads of wireless systems since they first came out decades ago (remember the old illegal Nady systems that always used to pick up local taxi firms in the middle of gigs) and all of them were c*ap and I ended up going back to leads! I got the GLDX16 not that long after it came out (about ten years ago?) and it just works as it should do. It's done hundreds of gigs and the battery is still perfectly good, no latency issues, works fine on bass and sounds as good as you would expect. My advice is to pay a bit more and buy once, rather than get cheaper alternatives that you will get rid off and replace because they don't work as well as the better kit. It's arguably cheaper, and certainly better. I've got an xvive system that I picked up for £30 or so on eBay and while it's OK for around the house, personally I wouldn't trust it on a gig. The Shure is in a completely different class.

Best - 1997 Warwick Streamer Pro-M bought from RichTone in Sheffield. Back playing a Warwick after over a decade without. It’s glorious. Special mention goes out to Jon Shuker for refretting my 74 Jazz Bass. Did a bloody marvellous job of it. Top bloke. Worst - Nux Atlantic. Just poor. @neepheid I’ve got a Digitech Bass Synth Wah if you’re interested.

Also: https://lusithanddevices.com/product/double-nfp-special/

Some more dub from Joe Gibbs...

I have a selection of systems, which I use dependant on the size of the stage etc. Number one is my Shure glxd16+. It will do a 5 hour rehearsal without even breaking a sweat and dropping one of the 6 lights charge wise. pedalboard friendly and has a clear display with a built in tuner. also as it's the + model it uses both 2.4 and 5.8ghz. number 2 is line6 relay g30. great for most pub and small shows. Easy to find at a reasonable price and pedalboard friendly. with both of these systems the transmitter goes into my back pocket. number 3 is a 5.8ghz bug type system I got on amazon for around £35. simple, and adjustable. Used as a back up.

Some very expensive hi-end brands being recommended here (above) and - while I'm sure they're all absolute killer devices - I'm competely unconvinced that they're the best route forward. All rechargeable batteries will fade away and (eventually) die, so spending £458 on that Shure outfit seems like an awful lot of money for something that you'll be chucking in a skip sometime around 2027. If you've not used wireless before then I'd strongly suggest you experiment first with the really cheap stuff (Joyo, Lekato, etc.) which my reasonably extensive experience suggests is at least 90% as good as the top-end stuff whilst costing 90% less. I started out with https://www.gak.co.uk/en/xvive-xu2-wireless-instrument-system-black When the batteries started to fade, I experimented with https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/305814068759 and with https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/186311571177 Following a recommendation from @stewblack I also bought https://www.amazon.co.uk/JOYO-Wireless-Transmitter-Receiver-Instruments/dp/B0CRKS96NS And my experience? They all work. They work just fine, and if there's any difference between the performance of the Joyo and the XVive systems then I've never been able to spot it. I play pubs and clubs, beer gardens and festival stages. I use passive and active basses, 4-string and 5-string. The only basses I own that have any trouble with wireless systems are double basses - all of them - and I don't understand why. It seems to make no difference whether I'm using piezo or magnetic pickups, full-sized DBs or my Kolstein Busetto, even whether the bass is plywood or aluminium. The strength of the string vibration seems occasionally to overpower the wireless signal producing a juddering sound that reminds me of the ABS cutting in when doing an emergency stop. Incidentally, the combined cost of ALL FOUR units referenced above was roughly HALF the cost of a single Shure GLXD16. I love Shure kit and I own a fair amount of it, but £458 for a wireless system? Your 'avin' a giraffe.

Hey, all. A newbie to this thread but not to bassism, having played semi-pro for 40+ years. I've just bought a used 2019 BB435, meant as a back-up, and my god! It seriously blows my F****r AmPro II Precision V out of the water. So much so that I'm going to sell the F****r (the asterisks can mean whatever you like there!) and get another BB435. Only wish I'd done it sooner.

Sorry, OT: Sorry, I have to keep the Collection complete 😝

I've got a NUX 5.8GHz system as well. It has been used for 6 gigs, including two outdoors and one on a large stage, and about 10 rehearsals without any problems so far

i used to do pro sound in multiple venues in the late 90s/early noughties. We used a lot of Behringer outboard gear, such as quad gates and quad compressors. The running joke back then was everything seemed to cost £99, no matter the model! A lot of visiting engineers sniffed at the name, but they worked for our needs. We didn't need to hear noiseless perfection in a venue with 1500 drunk punters in it. We would get the occasional failure just out of warranty, but at £99 we were happy to chuck them in the bin and buy another one - which would have been a bigger issue if we had been using top of the range gear. 20 years on I now own a BD121 and a UMC-22 interface and am very happy with them, thank you very much.

+1 for the Nux 5.8 Ghz. Really good range and I've not experience drop outs which I did get with some of the 2.4 GHz systems.

Agreed. It’s also very bad form to take somebody’s money before raising this issue. I can concur (having sent items too and received them from NI) that there are no charges. If the seller sees this thread, just send the bass!

I preferred Quiches

"I know - we'll put the neck at that end and the body at that end!"

Pub toilet burst

Best would be my Laney Digbeth head. Lovely bit of kit. Best class D head I've used. Worst was some Adagio roundwound strings for my Revelation bass. They get the job done for a limited time, but they're just not great. Wouldn't recommend. 3/10.

I call it "snotburst"

I said Antigua counted as an innovation (first turdburst guitars).

I have to disagree here. The 12XN range are pretty hi-fi sounding, but the 10CR cabs have a distinct ‘vintage’ coloration to them. Go for whichever you prefer.

Hmm, this takes some thought. The best purchase is probably my Barefaced 3x10. Undoubtedly the best cab (for me) I've had. It's just brilliant live, in any venue. Can I have a 2nd best? Discovering GK 400RB series amps, and buying ......three of them. The first one was like hearing the sound I'd been looking for all this time, albeit through previously mentioned 3x10. Worst purchase? I don't really have one, but if there is one, it's that I bought a brand new Ashdown head just before I discovered how much I like the GK RB series heads. So I've basically never used it, even though it's a great amp. Rob

New firmware, editor and factory soundset is now available! https://www.pandamidi.com/support

I use a Nux system, pretty much the same as the Boss WL-20 but the jacks are foldable so the unit can rest against the body of the bass (or against the side of an effects pedal). Works on 5.8 so no interference. I like it, comes with a nice little carry-box too.